Thirds to peter altmeter and christian altmeyer



(No Model.)

J. M. BRYANT.

NAIL PLATE EEEDE'E.

No. 355,584. l Patented Jan. 4, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT I JAMES M. BRYANT, OF BENWOOD, "WEST VIRGINIA,ASSIGNOR OE TWO- THIRDS 'TO PETER ALTMEYER AND CHRISTIAN ALTMEYER, BOTHSAME PLACE. l

.NAIL-PLATE FEDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,584, dated January4, 1887.

Application filed October 2, 1886.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it, known that I, JAMns M. BRYANT, of Benwood, in the county ofMarshall and State of Vest Virginia, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Nail -Plate Feeders; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improved organization of mechanical elements designedto automat-ically feed the blanks from which nails are formed to thecutters of a nail-machine.

, My invention belongs to that particular class of machines in which thebarrel for holding the nail plate or blank is, carried upon a pivotedsupport and oscillates to and from the cutters, being given a half-turnduring the intervals between the cutting operations to present oppositesides of the blank alternately to the knives.

My object is to produce a perfectly auto# matic machine having all themovements nec- -essary to the effective accomplishment of the work, thevarious Operating parts being organized in a simple compact form.

My invention consists in .the special construction and arrangement ofthe operative parts, all of which will be hereinafter describ( d andclaimed.

I n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of thedevice. Fig. 2 is a per-v spective view of the feeder. Fig. 3 is a planV1e,w of the barrel and feeding mechanism.

In the drawings, A represents the bed of the machine, and B the shaft,supported in suitable standards, 1 2. The stationary cutter is shown atO. To the front end of the bed an arm, D, is pivotally supported insuitable ears, 3 and 4, so as to have an oscillatory movement whenoperated by the driving power. The upperend of this arm is formed into ajournalbox, in which is carried a barrel, D', of substantially the sameinterionconstruction as is usual in these devices. The barrel isjournaled-in a proper manner to have rotary move- Serial No. :215,l59.

I aim to simplify the construction of the device by employing theoscillating arm D as a support for as many of the operating parts as (Nomodel.)

the requirements of the apparatus will permit.

I also aim to derive all the necessary movements from a singlecam-surface through conl nections few in number and arranged in the mostcompact form.

The first movement to be effected is theoscillation of the barrel on itspivot, whereby the nail-blank is first moved upwardly and awayfrom thecutters lafter each cutting operation, for the purpose of allowing theblank to be turned to present its opposite sides to the knives, and thenreturned to its. former position to allow the cutting to be performed.

This movement is accomplished by the arm 7, one end of which isconnected to the upright post on the j carnal-box, the other endterminating in a yoke, within which the cam E plays. During the movementof the barrel away from and back tothe cutters the half-revolution ofthe barrels with the nail-blank takes place, and this is done throughthe medium of the following mechanism:

The portion 8 of barrel situated outside of the bearing is provided withfour teeth, which are engaged alternately by pull and push pawls 9 and10, each having movement enough to rection. These are carried upon theupper end of an arm, F, pivoted upon the front side l of the oscillatingpost D. The connection betweenthe pawls and the arm is made by means ofa long pin, 10, lwhich passes through these parts and projects asufficient distance beyond to be acted upon by a forked lever actuatedby the cams on the shaft. This arm is shown at l1, and is secured to arock-shaft, G, journaled in suitable bearings in the bed 0f the machineand extending to the rear slightly beyond the main shaft. An arm, f, issecured to the rear end of this' shaft, extending laterally, so as toengage with a vertically-arranged link, H, by which its end is raisedand lowered to rock the shaft. The operating-cam on the main shaft isemployed to give this link the necessary vertical movement, and for thispurpose t-he cam-yoke, heretofore mentioned, has a rearwardly-extendingarm, m, positioned roo 1 directly opposite to the arm 7, connectingthelyoke with the oscillating arm. To the outer en`d of this arm the upperend of the vertical link is pivotally connected. A slot is formedvertically in the link adapted to receive a pin,

n, projecting from a suitable standard on the frame,whereby the link isguided and steadied in its movement. It will be observed that the link,besides having the necessary vertical movement, will also receive avibratory movement resulting from the revolution of the cam, and inorder to render this movement of the link ineffectual as to impartingany motion to the rock-shaft, I enlarge the lower end of the lever andform therein a curved slot struck from centers situated at the ends ofthe vertical slot in the link. The end of the arm f projects into thisslot, and as the link swings from side to side no movement will beimparted thereto, but when the high part of the cam moves to raise orlower the link the sides of the slot will bear upon the end of the armand move it accordingly.

From this construction, by which the two movements referred to arederived from one cam-surface through connections arranged to y beoperated in different parts of the movements of said cam, I securea-simple device, and the several motions must follow one another intheir proper order.

The movement of the cam and its connections to the oscillating arm D andthe pawls are all so timed that when the arm D moves backward the shaftwill be rocked in one direction, and one of the pawls operated topartially rotate the barrel, and when the reverse movement of the armtakes place the shaft will be returned, and the other pawl thrown intoaction to complete the necessary halfturn. The connecting-pin betweenthe pawl and its operating-arms is long enough to remain in engagementwith the forked -arm at all parts of the movement of the arm D.

To feed forward the nail-blank at the proper moment I have providedclutches a b,conven iently positioned upon either side of the barrel tograsp the edges of the blank when the half-turn of the same has beeneffected and the barrel moves forward to place the blank in position forthe cut. These nippers or clutches are carried upon the bifureated upperend of a lever, I. I pivot the lever to the oscillating arm Don the rearside thereof in the space, as shown, below the rear end of the barrel.It is pivoted near its lower end, and is provided with a screw-threadedpush-pin, c, adapted to `strike the frame on the forward throw of theoscillatingl arm, and thus impart a-movement to the clutches in advanceof the forward movement of the barrel. The pushpin may be adjusted toincrease or diminish the amount of feed. It is essential that sufficientspace be left between these clutches to allow the blank to be turnedwithout striking, and that as soon as the turn is completed the edgesshould be grasped by the clutches to effeet the proper feed on theforward movement of thel barrel. For this purpose one of the clutches ispivotally connected to its supportings-arm, its forward arm beingconstantly acted upon by a spring, r, tending to push it away from theblank. During the turning of the blank this tendency is not resisted andthe blank turns freely; but when the arm D moves forward and theclutches receive a movement in advance thereof the enlarged camshapedtail-piece o of the clutch rides upon a cam-projection, 19, ou thejournal-box, and causes the forward end of the clutch to press hardagainst the blank, so that it may be fed positively forward.

.It may be observed that as the arm 7, proj ecting from the front oftheyoke, is pivoted to the post on the arm D,the proper movement of therearwardlyextending arm m, with its link,is secured, lthe pivot-point 13acting as a center,whereby the movement is steadied and governed. Byutilizingv the arm D as a support for the two operating-levers shown ,Imake a very compact form of apparatus, for these parts occupy the spacebelow the projecting ends of the barrel and are entirely out of the way.Y

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a nail-plate-feedingmachine, -and in' combination, a revoluble barrel, D, teeth formed onthe periphery of said barrel, push and pull pawls 9 and l0, anoscillating support for said pawls, and mechanism, substantially asdescribed, for operating said support, whereby the pawls act alternatelyupon said teeth, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the revoluble barrel D', of a nail-plate feederhaving teeth formedthereon, push and pull pawls 9 and 10, acting uponsaid teeth and carried by an oscillating support, acam on the mainshaft, a shaft or its equivalent actuated alternately by the high andlow parts of the cam, connections between the said pawl-support and thesaid shaft, an oscillating supporting-arm for the barrel, a connectionthereto actuated alternately by the high and low parts of said cam,'whereby when the arm moves in one direction one pawl will be operatedand when in the opposite direction the other pawl will be operated,substantially as described.

3. In a nail-plate feeder,and in combination, a revoluble barrel, D', anoscillating support ingarm, D, therefor, mechanism carried by said armfor operating the barrel, a rock-shaft, G, and connections for actuatingsaid mechanism, cam mechanism on the shaft B, and connections betweensaid mechanism and the rockshaft, consisting of a link, H, and arm f,substantially as described. 4

4. In a nail-plate feeder, and in combination, a revoluble barrel, D, anoscillating support` ing-arm, D, therefor, nippers for feeding forwardthe nail-plate arranged to act directly upon said plate, thesupporting-lever I for said nippers, pivoted to the oscillating arm D,the

IXO

cam-shaped tail-piece on `the pivoted` lever,

opposite end of the barrel, allsubstantially as described, v

6. Inanail-plate feeder, andin combination, a revoluble barrel, anoscillating arm, D, for supporting the saine, mechanism for operatingthe barrel, a cam on the shaft B, a yoke actuated thereby, an arm, 7,projecting from said yoke and connected to the oscillating arm,and

an arm, m, projecting from the opposite side 2o of said yoke foroperating the barrel-revolving mechanism, substantially as described.

7. In combination with the vertically-movable link, a yoke having aprojecting arm, m,

connected thereto, an oscillating arm, D7 and 2 5 an arm connecting saidyoke with arm D,.sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence'of two subscribing Witnesses.

JAMES M. BRYANT.

Witnesses:

Trios. PELLEY, B. F. PEABODY.

